Bob McCarty Writes

Rumors are spreading fast and furiously among supporters of recently-fired Texas Tech University football coach Mike Leach.  But are they true?  I investigate.

Perhaps the most-volatile rumor floating about is that Leach was ousted in a fashion similar to the one that cost John Kerry the presidency in 2004. Albeit in a much-abbreviated fashion, they believe he was “swift-boated”.

In 2004, Swift Boat Vets and POWs for Truth hired Spaeth Communications to help them communicate to the American people their immense disdain for and distrust of the senator from Massachusetts. As we all know, the effort succeeded — thankfully, I might add.

As reported here Dec. 31, the Dallas-based firm had recently taken on a new client, Craig James. Today, I decided to find out why James, the father of Texas Tech freshman wide receiver Adam James, needed to hire a public relations firm in the first place.

CRAIG JAMES

In case you’re not familiar with Craig James, let me offer a brief bio sketch.

At 49, he is perhaps best known to most Americans as an ESPN sportscaster who joined the all-sports network after a successful NFL career with the New England Patriots.

Many Texans, however, remember him both as the Stratford High School football star who set a 4A rushing record in 1978 and, during the next four years, paired up with Eric Dickerson as a record-setting backfield tandem at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Most recently, James became well known for his role as the father whom Leach said meddled “more than any parent I’ve dealt with” in an effort to get his son more playing time.

SPAETH COMMUNICATIONS

On the morning of Dec. 31, only hours after Leach was fired by Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, Spaeth’s Rebecca Shaw confirmed for me during a brief phone call that her firm had posted a video on YouTube the previous evening. The video, allegedly filmed by Adam James, was posted at about the same time as the PR firm issued a news release and was accompanied by this description:

This video was taken by Adam James, a player on the Texas Tech Red Raider football team on Saturday, December 19th, after being confined by Coach Mike Leach in an electrical closet off the Press Room at Jones AT&T Stadium. James was suffering from a concussion received during an earlier scrimmage game. James was ordered to stand in the darkness until released several hours later. James momentarily turned on a light to record his surroundings with his cell phone.

After confirming with Shaw her firm’s relationship with the James family, I asked if she expected litigation to follow.

“They don’t have any idea what to expect,” Shaw said, careful not to rule anything out amidst a circus of media attention given to the case.

That could qualify as the understatement of the year among football fans in the Lone Star State.

THE ‘LIGHT’ WENT ON IN MY HEAD

During my initial research, I failed to make the connection between Spaeth and the company’s colorful background in waging public relations campaigns like the one that ruined Senator Kerry, aimed at achieving specific results for their clients.

It was only after a member of the fast-growing Facebook group known as “TEAM LEACH” (56,000+ members in one week) contacted me this week that the “light” went on in my head about the connection between Spaeth, its Swift Boat-style campaign expertise and some of the conspiracy theories related to the plethora of rumors now percolating in cyberspace related to the Texas Tech coaching scandal.

INVESTIGATION

This morning, I decided to investigate a half-dozen cyberspace-based rumors in an attempt to prove or disprove them.

#1

The first rumor has it that Leach was fired because he had told one of his team’s athletic trainers to lock Adam James in “a dark cool place” on more than one occasion as a form of punishment after the wide receiver had allegedly suffered a concussion and was unable to practice.

In a Jan. 1 affidavit, team physician Dr. Michael Phy confirmed that, in his medical opinion, Adam James had had “at least a mild concussion” and said that he “did not instruct anyone with Texas Tech to place James in an enclosed and dark space.”

In a similar affidavit signed the same day, head athletic trainer Steve Pincock recounted what reads like an accurate, exact summary of what likely transpired during practices Dec. 18 and 19.

Both affidavits, provided me by Shaw, convey messages that appear to be crafted so as to ensure both the physician and trainer remain employable at Texas Tech in the midst of an environment that is definitely hostile toward Leach and anyone who sides with the school’s most successful coach ever.

FYI: Attempts to contact Ted Liggett, the attorney reported in SBNation’s Dec. 30 post to be representing Leach, were unsuccessful. When I contacted Smith & Liggett, P.C., this morning, I was told Liggett had left the firm “about a month earlier.” The receptionist was kind enough, however, to provide me with Liggett’s cell phone number at which I left a message requesting a return phone call.

#2

Leach was fired after Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, Athletic Director Gerald Myles and big-time athletic booster Jim Sowell decided Leach, among other things, didn’t deserve the amount of money the university was obligated to pay him per the contract the school had recently negotiated.

E-mails exchanged between Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance, Athletic Director Gerald Myers and prominent booster and former board of regents member Jim Sowell of Dallas were published by the Dallas Morning News Jan. 2. They reveal what the newspaper described as a “rocky relationship” between the coach and the authors of said communications.  In my opinion, “rocky” is too friendly a term for the tone of these messages.

#3

Leach was fired after he refused to sign papers that would have allowed Adam James to transfer to any other school within the Big 12 or within the state of Texas, including his father’s alma mater, SMU. After the coach’s firing, the young wide receiver would be able to transfer immediately without a coach’s signature.

I have no means of proving or disproving this rumor without input from Leach or his attorney, but I wouldn’t blame Leach for being reluctant to allow Adam James to transfer to SMU or any other school within the described “restricted area.” After all, if the freshman is as good as so many of his detractors say he thinks he is, the coach couldn’t afford to equip opponents or schools with whom he wages annual recruiting battles with such a blue-chip stud, right?

#4

Leach’s firing came as a result of a well-orchestrated swift boat-style campaign, conceived by the folks at Spaeth, that involved scripting the aforementioned “lock up” story as a premise for Chancellor Hance to fire the coach for cause, thereby relieving the university of its obligation to continue paying Leach the remaining $10 million remaining on his contract.

Again, I have no way to confirm this one, but I do know that, according to Spaeth’s Shaw who confirmed it for me via e-mail this morning, Craig James hired the PR firm Dec. 23 — a full five days after the alleged shed incident and seven days before Leach’s firing. Factor in the aforementioned e-mails and affidavits, and one can fully understand how this rumor got “legs” under it. Proving it, however, is a whole ‘nother matter.

#5

Another rumor involves the possibility that (1) Craig James, Chancellor Hance and unnamed others are involved as investors in a plan to construct a wind farm somewhere in West Texas and (2) that relationship might have played a role in Hance’s decision-making regarding Leach.

If true, this might explain Hance’s willingness to play such an integral role in the scheme. Though Hance has not replied to an e-mail I sent to him this morning, booster Sowell did reply to three questions I sent his way via e-mail.

When asked whether he or any of his companies had ever had a business relationship with Spaeth Communications, Sowell replied, “No.”

When asked whether he or any of his companies had ever had a business relationship with Craig James, Sowell replied, “No.”

Finally, when asked to describe his role in the decision-making process that lead to the university’s decision to fire Leach, Sowell used a single word to deny such a role: “None.”

Additionally, Shaw replied to my inquiry about a business relationship, saying Craig James is not involved in any business relationship with Chancellor Hance.  It’s worth noting, however, that Shaw never answered two other important questions I asked:  1) “Why did Craig James hire your firm?” and 2) “Did (Craig James) know that Mike Leach was about to be fired?” [NOTE: See UPDATE #1 at end of post].

#6

The final rumor floating around Texas political circles is that Craig James is being groomed by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to replace her in the U.S. Senate. If the senator wins the Texas governorship in 2010, Craig James will reportedly seek to replace her this year. If she loses her run for the statehouse, the political wannabe will run for her Senate seat when she retires in 2012.

While Shaw could not — or, perhaps, would not — confirm Craig James’ interest in a Senate run, she did confirm that Merrie Spaeth, founder of Spaeth Communications, is a close friend of Senator Hutchison. If, indeed, Craig James has political ambitions and is being groomed by the senator, it would make sense for the senator to connect him with Spaeth’s firm.

UPDATE #1 1/07/10 at 11:04 a.m. Central: This morning, almost 24 hours after being asked, Rebecca Shaw of Spaeth Communications replied to the two questions begging for answers:

BMW Question – “Why did Craig hire your firm?” SHAW: The family correctly anticipated that there would be significant media and public interest in the story.  One of Craig’s associates suggested that the family would need support and recommended our firm.  Spaeth is considered one of the premiere communication consulting firms in the country, and we’ve worked with a number of universities and their athletic departments.

BMW Question – Did he know that Mike Leach was about to be fired?  SHAW: No.

UPDATE #2 1/07/10 at 9:25 p.m. Central: They denied it yesterday, but confirm it today:  Craig James IS Interested in U.S. Senate Seat (1/07/10)

SEE ALSO: Mike Leach Profile Remains on Texas Tech Web Site (1/07/10)

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